Testy Copy Editors

Our new website is up and running at testycopyeditors.org. This board will be maintained as an archive. Please visit the new site and register. Direct questions to the proprietor, blanp@testycopyeditors.org
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 1:24 pm

All times are UTC - 5 hours




Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 6 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Gathering up opinions ...
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 11:49 am 
Offline

Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:01 am
Posts: 37
Location: Batavia, NY
... on phrasal verbs.<p>"Jane Doe likes to brighten up homes with her lamp, furniture and wood restoration work."<p>Ignoring, for now, everything else that may be wrong with that lede, is the "up" worth keeping because of the subtle way it seems to modify "brighten"?


Top
 Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Gathering up opinions ...
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 11:58 am 
Offline

Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2002 12:01 am
Posts: 744
Location: HuskerLand
I don't like the "up." But then, I didn't mind "evolve." (See other thread.)


Top
 Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Gathering up opinions ...
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 12:14 pm 
Offline

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2004 12:01 am
Posts: 73
Location: "It's really not like the rest of Texas."
The 'up' is unnecessary. Same with "tidy up" or "straighten up." It just fills space.


Top
 Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Gathering up opinions ...
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 1:07 pm 
Offline

Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2004 12:01 am
Posts: 37
Location: San Francisco, Calif.
If she could brighten down a house, then I would be more impressed.


Top
 Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Gathering up opinions ...
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 6:05 pm 
Offline

Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2002 12:01 am
Posts: 138
Location: Washington, D.C.
A lamp could brighten a home. Restoration work on a lamp, it seems to me, would be better described as brightening up a home.


Top
 Profile E-mail  
 
 Post subject: Re: Gathering up opinions ...
PostPosted: Mon May 17, 2004 9:50 pm 
Offline

Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 12:01 am
Posts: 3137
Location: Homebush NSW Australia
Idiom might be the last refuge of scoundrels but I think it calls for the up here. Prepositions of all sorts are a bit of a worry in English.


Top
 Profile E-mail  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 6 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group

What They're Saying




Useful Links